-- Like several teams this year, Germain Racing is changing manufacturers. After two years using Ford power, the team will be using Chevy engines in 2014 and is the third team to form a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing.

-- Germain collected its first top-10 with driver Casey Mears in 2013, a ninth-place finish in the summer Daytona race.

After eight top-20 finishes in the first 18 races, Mears struggled in the second half of the season, cracking the top 20 only one more time. He finished 24th in points, however, a five-position improvement from 2012. Bootie Barker returns as crew chief and that continuity along with a technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing -- where Mears worked in 2009 -- has already produced encouraging results. The team was sixth quickest overall during the January Daytona test and fastest of the single car runs.

2014 Outlook

Joining Furniture Row and JTG Daugherty in a technical alliance with RCR creates a support system that should benefit this single-car Germain team. Mears, who won the 2007 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte while driving for Hendrick Motorsports, has proven himself top-10 caliber in past years, and this new partnership with RCR should pay off sooner rather than later.

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